On the Come Up Reread

I read this about three years ago I think, but I didn’t remember much of it as compared to its predecessor The Hate U Give. But to be fair, On the Come Up is a solid book, it’s just I had to read THUG about five times for three different classes so it just stuck in my head.

And if you’re a fan of Starr and THUG, this might be a bit harder to read. Brianna is not always a likable protagonist. She can be irrational, and rash and she makes so many mistakes that makes things worse for her that sometimes you just want to shake her. But it comes from good intentions (and some stubborness) in wanting to help her family who are always on the choice between paying for heat, or paying for food.

As for how she plans to get her family out of poverty, through the world of rap and hip hop. Something she not only has a grand talent for it, but its a legacy left by her dad, Lawless who was fatally shot just before he made it big. You can see where Thomas’ experience as a rapper is infused here with how Brianna thinks and breaks down syllables, rhymes, flow and rythmn. I, who never listened to rap (I prefer musicals), was able to imagine the catchy beat that Bri was making up on the spot. Which is impressive because conveying imaginary songs from page can be hard.

Like I said, Bri can be hard as it sometimes feels like she is getting in her own way but she was also relatable as she is just a teenager, a black teenage girl and aware of all the other powers that have more influence and control that she does. Rap is her only way out but she also doesn’t want to sacrifice who she is. Well whoever she thinks she is, that’s another issue she faces as society labels her a “hoodlum,” “a ratchet ghetto kid,” “Lawless’ daughter,” she’s needs to define herself.

Not that this book is only about Brianna navigating the culture around hip hop labels and images, her fear of being labelled a hoodlum is due to being injustly searched and thrown down by the school security guards, and the whole incident is written off as parents assume she was a drug dealer and allow the security guards back in school. It pulls no punches on the issues of racial profiling, unjust security measures and again, stereotyping that these security measures are needed because POC students are more “dangerous” and “aggressive.”

There is also more discussion on the systamatic oppression of the system and the many ways the people from the Garden try to get out, but are pushed back. Like Brianna’s older brother, Trey who arguably does everything right in getting good grades, homecoming king, and graduating college but can only find a job at a pizza parlor for which he is derided as weak by others for not helping his family out with the dough one could get from dealing. Another reason why Brianna tries to strike out on her own.

It also shows once more the adults as humans. Bri’s mother is a former drug addict who had left Bri and her brother to their grandparents when Bri was little. They’ve been living together now for the past eight years, but Bri still has fears of that day when Jay chose drugs over her. There’s also Aunt Pooh who is a Garden Disciple and still very much in the gangbanger game even as the family looks the other way. Much like Brianna, her choices to stand by her gang even at the detriment to herself provides conflict internally and familially.

Plus there is a touch more LGTBQ representation here with Brianna’s friend Sonny. It’s not touched on much but it does indicate the added difficulty for a gay person of color as it doesn’t fit with the ideals of black masculinity.

The Hate U Give is an amazing book in tackling police brutality and systamatic racism, but arguably it is more palatble due to Starr being an educated, self aware young woman and having two parents who don’t want to be involved in gang life and are arguably middle-class-ish. Brianna’s family is arguably messier with having a former drug addict mother, a dead father, and gang-member aunt it seems to fufill those hood black family stereoypes, but as the book goes to show, those are just labels that society places on them to keep them where they are. There are many sides and nuances to them and it is worthwhile to dig into it.